NobleDead.org - High/Dark Fantasy Fiction by Barb Hendee and J.C. Hendee

Noble Dead Raffle #1 — And the Winner is…

Joseph Drane wins the first signed hardbound first edition of S3B2: The Dog in the Dark.

Joseph’s prize is slightly delayed, as post offices in the area shut down early today and will be closed New Year’s day as well. But his prize will be on its way as of January 2nd. This concludes the first of the current series of six raffles for signed volumes from the Noble Dead Saga.

COMING SOON!

Noble Dead Raffle #2 will begin next Friday, but don’t jump the gun just yet. No early entries will be accepted, so wait until the raffle officially opens. Watch for the announcement coming next Friday. And as to the prize for that raffle…

Prize #2 is a complete set of signed first edition paperbacks for the entire Series 2 of the Noble Dead Saga: S2B1: In Shadow and Shadow; S2B2: Through Stone and Sea; S2B3: Of Truth and Beasts. But wait, there’s more!

Along with Noble Dead Raffle #2, we will run a parallel raffle at BarbHendee.org. The prize is the complete signed mass market, first editions for the five volume “Vampire Memories” series by Barb: VM1: Blood Memories; VM2: Hunting Memories; VM3: Memories of Envy; VM4: In Memories We Fear; VM5: Ghosts of Memories.

NOTE: Entries for the “V.M.” raffle will be submitted through BarbHendee.org. Don’t worry, when it comes time, we will point you in the right destination for each raffle.

That’s enough of a teaser for now. Thank you to everyone who joined in on the fun so far. Still more to come, so stay tuned to your preferred news source coming out of NobleDead.org and/or BarbHendee.org.

UPDATE: Availability of the latest Noble Dead Saga books

From Barb: Okay, I just checked the B&N stores within a hundred miles of our house, and all of them are showing that they have copies of S3B2: The Dog in the Dark. I just wanted to make sure because this is an unusual release date for us.

So far, the only glitch I'm seeing for this release date is that the mass market paperback for S3B1: Between Their Worlds is being listed on Amazon and B&N as a completely separate book (it's not linked on the hard cover/Kindle page at either site), and the e-editions are still listed at $12.99 when they should have dropped to $7.99. Our publisher is closed for the holidays, but if this problems has not corrected itself, I'll contact our editor on Wednesday and see if she can help.

From J.C.: Certain standard vendors we link for each book on our “Books” page have delayed updating their listing for S3B2: The Dog in the Dark. Very frustrating for us, as well as some of our readers of ebook editions. This has been reported to our publisher, and I am monitoring those vendors several times per day. As soon as proper listings are available, I will update them immediately on our site.

Noble DEAD Raffle #1—UPDATE

The winner of the first raffle has been determined and notified, but we have yet to set up processing on the prize. Please stayed tuned for the official announcement later today, along with details for when the next raffle will begin. There will be a little something extra as well for what is coming.

Noble Dead Raffle #1—Missing Confirmation?

One thing we noticed this time around was that a handful of entry confirmations bounced back as “undeliverable.” If you did not receive a confirmation on your raffle entry after 72 hours, you might be one of those. If so, check that the email address you used is still active, or perhaps try a different one.

NOTE: Before the final drawing for the prize, all entries are checked for duplicates based on email address, name, and shipping address. Duplicate entries will be deleted. Please do not send a second entry unless you failed to receive confirmation on the first one.

Please see the “original post” and follow the instructions as needed. This raffle is only open to participants in the USA.

Noble Dead Raffle #1 — REMINDER

Just a heads up. The first raffle for a signed hardbound first edition of S3B2: The Dog in the Dark… ends this coming Friday at Midnight, PST. So if you have not entered yet…

Please see the “original post” and follow the instructions so your entry is confirmed in your first submission.

This raffle is only open to participants in the USA.

Noble Dead Raffle #1 — NOW OPEN!

Here we are again for the first in another six raffles for books from the Noble Dead Saga shipped straight to your door. For our first raffle, as is appropriate, the prize is a signed hardbound first edition of S3B2: The Dog in the Dark…

Please follow the instructions below so your entry is confirmed on the first submission.

This raffle is open to only readers in the USA.

Telling Tales…

Now and again, we notice a stream of new readers have tuned into our social satellite pages or directly to news releases through NobleDead.org. So just a few catch up notices for those who might have missed them.

Barb and J.C. are engaged in more than writing the Noble Dead Saga. So whether you are catching up with the books so far, or awaiting S3B2: The Dog in the Dark, stop by the main site and have a peek at Tales from the world of the Noble Dead Saga.

The “Tales” project of short ebook only works currently contains two on-going  sequences: “Homeward” and “Bones of the Earth.” Short stories and novellas in the former are not sequential, per se; you can read them in any order. Those in the latter are sequential (so far), but we know of readers who started with either one first and did just fine. And yes, there will be new sequences debuting sometime in 2013 along with the continuation of “Bones of the Earth.”

We will not be releasing new “Tales” until something in February 2013 outside the release window of the S3B2: The Dog in the Dark and after we have a little break from finishing the draft version of next year’s volume. But there are more “Tales” to come, oh yes.

And of course, there is Barb’s coming new series, The Mist-Torn Witches, which debuts May 2013. It is set in the world of (but not linked to) the Noble Dead Saga.

And lastly… we know a lot of you expected the next news from ND.org would be about the new “Noble Dead Raffles.” Hang in there. That notice is coming late tomorrow, guaranteed!

Now, has everyone finished their list of holiday preparations? Cough, cough, ahem… we are probably in no position to talk! And we’ll be back tomorrow.

COMING SOON: Another “Noble Dead” Raffle!

NOTICE: No early entries will be accepted at this time. Please wait for the coming official announcement of the first raffle’s opening via the NobleDead.org newsfeeds.

Very soon, we will begin another series of six bi-weekly raffles for varied hardback volumes and paperback sets, all signed by us and delivered to your door. Right now, we are buried in completing the manuscript for next year’s volume in the Noble Dead Saga, but since a new volume is about to hit the shelves…

Of course, the first raffle’s prize will be a signed, hardback, first edition of S3B2: The Dog in the Dark.

Following raffles will be a mix as yet to be announced. In that mix will be a few other copies of this new book.

That is all for now, but we will be back with you soon. The official opening for the new series of raffles is not far off.

Update…

Barb here. This is always such a strange time of year for me and JC.  With the way our publisher works, we need to turn in the draft for "next year's book" in the same month "this year's book" is released.  When Dhampir was first released in January of 2003, we knew nothing about the publishing industry, and we had no idea that we'd gotten fairly lucky with our release month — in early January.  Tons of folks have Amazon and B&N gift certificates, freshly received from the holidays. 

So… since then, every January, JC and I have "the next book" due on our editor's desk.  Right now, we are eagerly awaiting the release of The Dog in the Dark, and at the same time, we are trying to get ready for the holidays (buying gifts, writing cards, decorating the house, and planning a holiday party), while we are finishing up the first draft of a fat Noble Dead novel that is due right after Christmas.  I tend to write in the mornings, but sometimes at this time of year, I go all day and then play catch-up on other things in the early evening.

And… I drink too much coffee (smiles).

Update? What Update?

Well, let us be honest: we do not really have anything new to share, but…

It has been over a week since we lifted our bleary eyes from the keyboards… or took a break from chasing Cinders and Ashes out of the artificial holiday tree we put up but have not yet decorated.

We were waiting on the ornaments until we taught the “sisters” not to climb indoor trees since we do not let them climb the outdoor type. And they are getting big(!) at just past seven months. We took an hour last night to bend all of the artificial tree’s branches back into place. That should also tell you how successful we have been in cat training after trying every trick in the book. Oh, and that includes the old lemon trick and cat’s hating the scent of it sprayed on anything. J.C. repeatedly misted the whole tree in a 50/50 mix of lemon juice and filtered water… and the sisters did not even flinch as they hit that tree in a run and a leap the first time… the second time… the third time… sigh…

The only real thing going on around our office is grinding away on the draft for S2B3: The Wind in the Night [working title] while we wait for S3B2: The Dog in the Dark to hit the real and virtual shelves. The winter holiday season is upon us, so only another 5+ weeks to go… before both the new release and that new manuscript has to be in our editor’s hands.

With all of that and then some, there has been no time for other projects like more “Tales,” finishing changes on the websites, the Noble Dead “Codex” project, or even a quick boardgame or something. We should also remind all of you that, as planned, there will no new releases in Tales from the world of the Noble Dead Saga around the release of a new book in the Noble Dead Saga. So no new Tales until after January, but yes, there are more to come. Also, down the road, we may need to do the same thing when Barb’s new Mist-Torn Witches series debuts. And before anyone asks, changes to the websites will be finished once J.C. has time to breath… and the free ebook Codex of the Noble Dead World is still on his to-do list.

We will leave off here and hope all of you have had a good start to the holiday season. Please do not get trampled in the stores! We will back to you again when we have some actual news to share… or when we realize it has been too long yet again.

Amazon Deletes Book Reviews by Authors

I (J.C.) won’t go into much detail on the recent press release from Amazon for two reasons: it has been covered elsewhere (see the links below) and very little was said at all by the company. Most times I don’t do personalized articles for NobleDead.org, but this topic does relate to the industry I’m linked into. You pure readers might not be interested… or maybe you would…

Coming May 2013: The Mist-Torn Witches

Some of you may have already heard of Barb’s new series, and she’s excited about this one. The Mist-Torn Witches is set in the world of the Noble Dead Saga, but it is autonomous from those books and stands on its own. Now we have a little something to share with you.

The first volume is titled after the series as a whole, and this will be an entirely new dimension to the world, with new characters to meet in the dark and dank land of Droevinka. So come follow the sisters, Céline and Amelie Fawe, as they strive to survive in a land where noble houses openly and secretly vie to control the throne of Grand Prince.

All information and on-going news for The Mist-Torn Witches series will be available through both NobleDead.org and BarbHendee.org. Makes sense, yes? So stay tuned… there’s more to come in future months as we approach the debut of a whole new set of adventures from Barb.

Bones of the Earth, II: Karras the Cat — UPDATE

Listings at Barnes & Noble and iTunes / iBookStore have now been confirmed as complete. Unfortunately, it will still take time for internal data to filter through for searches by title at those sites. In the meantime, click the links above or visit Tales from the world of the Noble Dead Saga at NobleDead.org if you are a Nook or an iOS user wanting a preview of this new “tale.”

J.C. Hendee
$3.00 USD
Novella, Part 2 of 3, 40k+ words
Sequel to BE1: Karras the Kitten
ISBN-10: 0-9855616-6-1
ISBN-13: 978-0-9855616-6-6
ASIN: B00A03F12Y
English Only
Purchase outside the USA available at all international Amazon outlets, KoboBooks.com (associated vendors), and iTunes / iBookStore.

NOW AVAILABLE—Bones of the Earth, II: Karras the Cat

We are a little late and a little early with this release. Our writing schedule gets busier the closer we get to the end of the year, and a couple of our vendors are a little slow these days in processing submitted titles.

J.C. Hendee
$3.00 USD
Novella, Part 2 of 3, 40k+ words
Sequel to BE1: Karras the Kitten
ISBN-10: 0-9855616-6-1
ISBN-13: 978-0-9855616-6-6
ASIN: B00A03F12Y
English Only
Purchase outside the USA available at all international Amazon outlets, KoboBooks.com (associated vendors), and iTunes / iBookStore.

Yes, you read it right, all “Tales” are now available internationally (to some extent) through iTunes / iBookStore.

NOTICE: this release is now “on the shelves” at Amazon and KoboBooks. It has also been submitted to Barnes & Noble and iTunes / iBookstore, but it has yet to appear on their shelves. It will within another 24-48 hours.

For more information please visit the “Tales” page at NobleDead.org. While you are there, have a look at previous “Tales” releases in the “Homeward” and “Bones of the Earth” sequences.

Though set in the world of the Noble Dead Saga, “Tales” and their sequences do not require knowledge of the saga’s books/series. You can easily pick up and read one as your first venture into this world.

You Do NOT Need an eReader

Free Apps to purchase ebooks directly from your computer or other devices are available for multiple operating systems like Windows, OS X, Android, iOS and sometimes Linux. If you purchase an ebook on your computer and later buy a portable ereader device, all of your previously purchased books from the device's vendor will load to your new ereader automatically. And they will still be accessible in the application on your computer.

• Kindle Apps (AZW/Mobi)
• Nook Apps (EPUB)
• KoboBooks Apps (EPUB)

A Sneak Peek

It has been over a week since we had anything new to share, but we thought we would touch base with all of you for an instant. We are heavily into working on the next book in the saga for 2013 while we all wait for the release of S3B2: The Dog in the Dark [Dec. 31, 2012].

But here is a little something coming by October 31, 2012 in “Tales from the world of the Noble Dead Saga”…

Bones of the Earth, II: Karras the Cat 
J.C. Hendee 
$3.00 USD 
Novella, Part 2 of 3, 40k+ words 
Sequel to BE1: Karras the Kitten 
English Only 

[ADDITIONAL DETAILS PENDING]

Event: Sci-Fi Authorfest VI

Barb and J.C. will be in attendance along with other SF/F/H authors at the Beaverton, Oregon, branch of “Powell’s Books” this coming November 4th @ 4:30 pm (PST).

Bring your books or purchase one while there, and then drop by their table to let them to sign your treasures and have a chat. Everyone is welcome!

Powell's Books at Cedar Hills Crossing
3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd. 
Beaverton, Oregon, 97005
(800) 878-7323

Directions – Mapquest – Google Maps

Q&A: The ReaderStore Quandry

Although the Noble Dead Saga is widely available in ebook format for all major devices and apps, it is not so for our Tales from the world of the Noble Dead Saga. We still get queries from readers who use devices either not sold through our selected “Tales” vendors or which cannot load those vendors’ apps…

Things to come…

Time for a little update on what is going on around the home office, and what is coming up in the near to not-so-near future. Obviously there is another entry in The Noble Dead Saga that will be hitting the shelves (online and in stores) at the end of December. If you have not taken a peek at it as yet, drop by NobleDead.org.

For the Saga’s Future…

A little while back, we finally finished the outline for the next book to come, S3B3. We have chosen a working title but this is still subject to additional changes—The Wind in the Night. Our collaborative outlines go way beyond what is done for a solo author, so there was a lot of work involved for yet another three interwoven stories in one novel, like you will see in S3B2: The Dog in the Dark.

Q&A: “Tales” in Print?

We knew this issue would come up sooner or later, and it has come up multiple times through social systems and through the “Contact” page at NobleDead.org.

So it is time for an official response, so to speak, though the answer might not please some. We will try to explain…

“Tales” on iTunes/iBookStore Completed

Just a very quick note to everyone, but especially iPhone, iPod, and iPad users:

All currently available works in Tales from the world of the Noble Dead Saga are now available through iTunes and the iBookStore.

You can search them out there by title, author, sequence, or even “tales from (etc.),” or simply drop by NobleDead.org and select “Tales” from the site’s main menu. Select any title in the Tales page-menu to find links that take you directly to the appropriate iTunes/iBookStore product page.

Note that you must have iTunes installed if you are making a purchase via a computer instead of an iOS device. And of course all future “Tales” releases will also be available at iTunes and the iBookStore from now on.

S3B2: The Dog in the Dark—Description

The back cover description for the next edition in the Noble Dead Saga is now available at NobleDead.org. Select “Books” from the main menus, and then book title on the Books page.

An earlier uncorrected version slipped out to a couple of sites, but we got in touch with the our publisher and worked out some corrections; this is now the official version.

Those who’ve been following some of our commentary on social sites may already know much of what you will find, but the rest of you can now catch up a little.

ADDITIONAL: We have officially set the working title for the novel we’re working on now. Series 3, Book 3 is titled… The Wind in the Night. More on this work after the first of the year.

Now Available: Homeward, V: The Reluctant Guardian

Barb Hendee
$3.00 USD
Short story, ~12k words; English Only

This sixth offering in Tales from the world of the Noble Dead Saga is now available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, KoboBooks, and iTunes (iBookStore). For more information please visit the “Tales” page at NobleDead.org.

For non-USA readers, Amazon and KoboBooks offer access and purchase from outside of the USA. For Amazon, you will need to seek the proper site by domain extension (.es, .uk, etc.); see the main Amazon.com site for assistance if you cannot find your region’s domain site. KoboBooks has affiliates in about 150 countries, though their main site (from what we understand) sells directly (with immediate access) to many countries around the world.

NOTE: At present we are not able to provide international access to “tales” via iTunes.Apple.com (iBookStore). Listing and price control there for non-USA purchases has not been adequately refined via their publishing portal to account for fluctuating currency exchange rates as is done through other portals.

It may take a little more time for our privately published titles to filter through these large vendor sites to any of their non-USA subsites, but they will. Please be patient. While you are at our site, have a look at the previous “Tales” releases in the “Homeward” and “Bones of the Earth” sequences.

Though set in the world of the Noble Dead Saga, “Tales” and their sequences do not require knowledge of the saga’s books/series. You can easily pick up and read one as your first venture in this world.

You Do NOT Need an eReader

Free Apps to purchase ebooks directly from your computer or other devices are available for multiple operating systems like  Windows, OS X, Android, iOS and sometimes Linux. If you later buy a device, all of your previously purchased books from the device's vendor will load to your new device as well as still being available through your vendor-based app on your computer.

• Kindle Apps (AZW/Mobi)
• Nook Apps (EPUB)
• KoboBooks Apps (EPUB)

Homeward, II: The Feral Path — on iTunes

All appears stable after the release of Homeward, I: The Game Piece on iTunes. So it is time to expand offerings for Tales from the world of the Noble Dead Saga through our newest vendor.

Homeward, II: The Feral Path has been uploaded to the  iTunes store and should be available soon for all iOS devices. Keep in mind that any device using iOS can also load apps for our other vendors. If you used one of those on your iPod, iPad, or iPhone, you do not need to buy this title a second time. And at present, there are no apps for non-iOS devices… not even a Mac.

We hope that last part changes in the near future, as we are big advocates of people being able to purchase and read ebooks without having to buy yet another device… unless they want to. Freely testing out reading ebooks for the first time is just as important as sampling ebooks themselves.

Tales Update – Change of Schedule

J.C. has been overwhelmed with two Noble Dead books in overlapping phases, our online pursuits and problem solving, and managing the situation with vendors and their portals. He is still working on Bones of the Earth, II: Karras the Cat when spare moments allow as the sequel to BotE, I: Karras the Kitten. So the “Tales” release for September will be Homeward, V: The Reluctant Guardian by Barb.

This last tale (for now) in the Homeward sequence should be available at all of our standard vendors by next weekend after its listing is established on our own site. And yes, some new tales sequences are in the planning phase even now. Any such will likely not debut until early next year after the release of S3B2: The Dog in the Dark in the Noble Dead Saga.

HW5 will not be up at iTunes until J.C. catches up on placing previously released tales at that vendor. But, since he has completed the final version of its cover (another of his duties), here is a little peek just to tease you.

That is all for now, dear readers, but keep your eyes open for further news by this coming weekend. 

S3B3: The Dog in the Dark—COVER!

Well, it’s finally here, and we’ve all been waiting to see it. Stop by NobleDead.org and head to the “Books” page, click the title of the book, and then the cover image to see a slight enlargement.

Still no back cover details / description as yet, for we won’t share that until such is officially released to the vendor sites. It shouldn’t be long now. Some links are available on the Books page for pre-order, and we’ll have more of those as the title pops up at major online vendors. Oh, and we’ve added some iTunes/Apple links to titles available. More to come soon!

The Apple [Re-]Experiment

We’ve decided to give Apple another try as an additional vendor for Tales from the world of the Noble Dead Saga, though this latest re-experiment still raises some red flags. Apple’s software approach to delivering ebooks to their store is rather burdensome and convoluted; it puts this attempt at risk in a specific way, but Homeward, I: The Game Piece is now available though the iTunes store.

PURCHASE AT:

You will need to have iTunes installed on  your computer or use an iOS device for the Apple/iTunes (lower-right) link to work. Of course you can also go through your installed iTunes and search out the title in the books section. If no price wars are started across our chosen vendors, we will continue by putting up the rest of our “Tales” on the iTunes store. So, why are we concerned about a potential price war? Well…